I have an ongoing interest in trying to "cast" the streets and alleyways of old cities, such as the Casbah of Algiers or the medinas of Ghardaia. Back in 1993 Rachel Whiteread cast the inside of a house in concrete, deconstructing the house around it and letting the concrete stand exposed. (The back story and... Continue Reading →
For the final project of Deployable structures, Steve Kocher and I incorporated a revised adjustable strut into a square pyramid/tetrahedron space frame. There are two deployments. Starting off in its most upright and compact form, the lateral members unfold and the truss expands to its identifiable geometry. The second deployment has the diagonal... Continue Reading →
A brief recap. The past few posts have been a review of work completed as part of a class called Deployable Structures, taught at PennDesign by Mohamad Al Khayer. A few weeks were spent on folded paper modeling (origami, as seen on this pinterest page). Mohamad also review some of the ideas of D'Arcy Thompson's... Continue Reading →
Continuing on the topic of deployable structures, today I am focusing on 'space filling geometry' or 3D tessellations. This refers to any geometric arrangement which can be replicated to complete fill a volume. Cubes stacked on top of each other would qualify. A simple way of creating this type of geometry is to work out... Continue Reading →
Deployable structures refer to any type of structure that has at least two sizes and/or configurations. Any tent qualifies, as does an umbrella. These object transform radically from their stored state, as compact as can be to facilitate their transport, and full expanded to provide (in both of these cases) shelter from the elements. As... Continue Reading →
A few more photos of yesterday's project.
Back to overpasses and University City. This is a project from Fall 2012, a design for transitional housing for the formerly homeless. My writing from the semester: Our site is one defined by transience, by commute, by Motion. The site is an overlap of anonymous paths and few destinations. In an effort to provide a... Continue Reading →
Following up on yesterday's discussion of traffic and energy, I wanted to share a few model photographs of a project which literally builds off of highway infrastructure. The site is along Chestnut Street between 30th Street and the Schuylkill Expressway, across the street from the old Post Office building. This section of Chestnut Street was... Continue Reading →
It took me a while to accept the concept of 'noise pollution', that noise can be a difficult to control nuisance which can lower the quality of life for those exposed to it. I try walking down Walnut Street Bridge while listening to music and I find myself unable to hear anything other than tire... Continue Reading →
Another detour today, this time down Main Street, or The Main Street Project, which began in 1977 and (until last year) was operated by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It started as architectural and economic analysis meant to help local governments come up with strategies to revitalize their downtown. The Main Street Project summarize their... Continue Reading →
Adam Achrati 